The Manawatū District Council has been reviewing the provisions of the Manawatū District Plan General Residential Zone. This project is known as Proposed Plan Change B: General Residential.

Under the provisions of the Resource Management Act, plan provisions are required to be reviewed at least once every 10 years. The Residential Zone provisions are due for review.

Proposed Plan Change B proposed to:

• replace the existing General Residential Zone provisions of the Manawatū District Plan (except those which apply to the Maewa growth area) and corresponding provisions in the Subdivision Chapter of the District Plan.
• change a number of definitions used by the District Plan to bring them into line with central government National Planning Standards (2019).

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Key changes proposed under the first phase of Draft Plan Change B, and on which submissions are now invited, include:

• Updating objectives and policies to reflect a new approach of enabling housing choice within the GRZ and ensuring good design outcomes are achieved.
• Updating the bulk and location permitted activity standards to reflect current best practices for residential development.
• Including explicit provision for, and introducing a new consenting framework for, Medium Density Development.
• Including explicit direction that the management of stormwater within new developments has been considered and resolved before development occurs.
• Including a new definition of Medium Density Development.
• Consequential changes to the Subdivision Chapter to reflect the changes made above, including new objectives and policies, revised matters of discretion, a new Medium Density Development framework, a change to the minimum lot size.

You can read the full text of Proposed Plan Change B in the document library.